Hawthorn have moved quickly to refute claims that there was more to Lance Franklin's late withdrawal at the weekend than first revealed.
Franklin was pulled out of Hawthorn's side with an illness prior to their 64-point victory over Gold Coast on Sunday and hasn't played since injuring his hamstring against the Giants in Round 15.
Hawthorn's general manager of football operations Mark Evans fronted the media on Monday to make it clear that there was nothing mysterious behind Franklin's absence against the Suns.
"We've heard all of the conspiracy theories and rumours and I need to tell you they are absolute rubbish," Evans said.
"People need to be very careful about how you report that and how the commentary goes.
"The sorts of things we've heard is that it's an AFL or club suspension, that he's re-done his hamstring, that he took two weeks off to go to the Olympics.
"Just absolute rubbish.
"He was ill and we're hopeful that he'll play this week."
Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge said Franklin was still a 'little bit groggy' at training on Monday, but he expects the 25-year-old to be fit to face the Swans.
"If you ask Buddy, he's been ready to go for about four or five weeks, it's just his body hasn't let him go," Hodge said.
"He's trained the house down the last three weeks and he can't wait to get back out there."
4 Comments
He's on the coke man,worst kept rumor in aussie rules lol
ReplyA?VFL is totally corrupt from Dumbetriou to DickyNixon
ReplyWho knows what the AFL might have found out and told the Hawks what to do with him.Like keep him out of games for a while and say it's an injury. Cousin Swan???
Replyto much COKE.......
1 Reply